Alabama Republican Wants To Castrate Sex Offenders

An Alabama state representative has introduced a bill to require surgical castration of adult sex offenders who target children.

"They have marked this child for life and the punishment should fit the crime," state Rep. Steve Hurst (R) told WIAT-TV after filing the bill last week.

HB 365 would force these sex offenders to undergo surgical castration before being released from prison. The punishment would apply to both male and female offenders who at the age of 21 or older sexually victimized children age 12 or younger...

There is precedent for this kind of punishment: Nine other states have laws that allow male sex offenders to be chemically castrated.

Before being released from prison following punishment for their second offense, California requires child molesters who have harmed kids under the age of 13 to be treated with depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, a female birth control drug sold under the brand name Depo-Provera that also reduces male sexual function.

Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin also have chemical castration statutes. Florida and California are the only states to require such treatment for repeat sex offenders.